Neil BrownMar 6
From "your OS must enable you to declare your age" to "developers must attempt to verify your age" to "you must declare your age" to "you must prove your age" to "you must verify your identity to go online" in how long?
Show threadNeil Brown

I can very much imagine giving a lecture, in a few years time, and students will ask, disbelievingly,

"What do you mean that you could just run a website from a computer in your home? For anyone in the world to access?"

or

"No, I don't believe it - you could run a server to exchange messages with other people, without a licence, and without verifying who they are?!"

or

"What do you mean that you fell in love with your wife without knowing her real name, because you chatted to her so much on the web before you ever met?! Surely you scanned her ID when you first started talking to her."

Mar 6 at 7:38pmWeb
Show threadThe Tattooed Nonna 🧙‍♀️Mar 6
@neil I feel like we will go back to secret paper notes hidden in trees.
Show threadHeddersMar 6
@Tattooed_Mummy @neil how long do you think before hedge porn makes a comeback?
Show threadSteven HeywoodMar 7
@hedders @Tattooed_Mummy @neil
Even as we type techbros are buying hedgerows left, right and centre in preparation for the monetization of muddy smut.
Show threadHeddersMar 7
@Stevenheywood Heh! Made me laugh.
Show threadRa (Freyja) (it/its)𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩Mar 6
@Tattooed_Mummy @neil maybe we will, and this will be accessible for disabled folks how, exactly?
Show threadEm Mar 6
@neil Indeed sigh 😔
Show threadJoost van Baal-IlićMar 6
@neil fwiw, today i changed the MX pointing to my personal mailserver: from the old one to the new one. no signing of any papers involved! it's still possible in 2026!
Show threadGerardMar 6
@joostvb @neil 🤫 shhhhh!
Show thread64 Islands Aroha CooperativeMar 6
@neil @Tattooed_Mummy "you were able to just... meet? without a sanctioned match?"
Show threadGuillotine Jones, FlâneurMar 6
@neil
Sad, and I hope this prediction does NOT become true, Neil.
Show threadmatthewcroughanMar 6
Utter ragebait.
Show threadLuna chanMar 6
@neil I'd rather see the internet destroyed by a CME than becone that.
Show threadder.hansMar 9

@neil ha, met spouse in analog space in a group that had essentially used IRC nicks long before IRC was created

Names that might appear on a government document were irrelevant and confusing if someone accidentally used one